Jaka, worthy of applause

Jaka, age 8, suffered severe contractures after being burned. A free surgery onboard the Africa Mercy has allowed mobility of her arm once again.

She was spinning around in circles with some other children while her mother was at the market. Around and around, arms out, chin up, her face full of smiles. Tragically, when Jaka lost her balance, she plummeted into her aunt’s cooking fire. Jaka landed in the burning coals on her left side with her arm up. The pot of boiling water her aunt had prepared for rice spilled over the little girl’s shoulders, arms and back.

Fanta, Jaka’s mother, ran home from the market and took her daughter to a local hospital in Conakry. In order to be seen by doctors, the hospital required a payment of 1.5 million Guinea Francs at the gate – just over $200. The family could not afford admission. Fanta returned home with Jaka, unable to ease her daughter’s agony. For the next eight months, Jaka laid on her little stomach, tethered to the ground by unimaginable pain.

As Jaka’s burns healed without medical care or rehabilitation, her left shoulder and arm contracted. Jaka’s skin began to grow back in such a way that her arm became stuck to her side from her armpit to elbow.

Jaka received a free plastic surgery onboard our hospital ship that released her arm and grafted skin.

Free of her deformity, Jaka will also now be able to go to school for the first time.

It is easy to give through CFC. Just remember Mercy Ships #94744 when filling in your pledge card!

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